World Cup 2026 bid won by Canada, Mexico and USA - an overview of potential host stadiums

Canada, Mexico and USA have won the bid to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup which has been awarded under FIFA’s new bidding process. The 2026 World Cup will be the first to feature 48 nations across the globe and to be hosted by three different countries.

Bid process

The 2026 Bid Evaluation Task Force has used a weighted criteria system to review the submitted bids. This system was broken down into infrastructure and commercial elements. Infrastructure accounted for 70% of the overall weight while the remaining 30% was related to commercial elements outlined in the bid.

In addition, each bid had to meet a threshold of requirements in order to be approved by the 2026 Bid Evaluation Task Force before being eligible for vote by the 68th FIFA Congress. Of the 211 members, 200 were eligible to vote of which 67% voted for the UNITED bid.

Canada, Mexico and USA

The complexity of hosting the tournament across three countries was given great thought during the bid process. The three nations were able to come to a final agreement on which games would be played where and at what stage of the tournament. Of the 80 matches in total, USA will host 60 matches while Mexico and Canada will both host 10 matches. A particular unique part of the United 2026 Bid is the potential of having three ‘opening’ matches with one being played in each nation:

Canada – Edmonton, Montreal, or Toronto

Mexico – Mexico City - Estadio Azteca

United States – Los Angeles or New York/New Jersey

The following is a breakdown of the number of matches for each stage of the tournament and in which nation these matches will be played:

Overview of potential World Cup stadiums

There are 23 potential stadiums which could host World Cup matches: 3 stadiums in Canada, 3 stadiums in Mexico and 17 stadiums (of which 10 will be chosen as official host venues) in USA. The average capacity for these 23 stadiums is 69,261 (52,580 in Canada; 63,018 in Mexico and 74,149 in USA).

In the second 2018 issue of ESSMA’s stadium development report, more information will be available on the bid process, the United bid and the Moroccan bid. The report will soon be published on the ESSMA Knowledge Platform.